ANNA BALTZER, NATIONAL ORGANIZER FOR THE U.S. CAMPAIGN TO END THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION:

To my knowledge, there has never been a book that takes on the daunting challenge of describing and deconstructing the unbelievably complex emotional and intellectual journey from prejudice to compassion on this issue… until now!

GILL DYE, COLLEAGUE OF ARCHBISHOP ELIAS CHACOUR AND PAST HEAD OF THE ELIJAH TRUST, A CHRISTIAN CHARITY BASED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM:

I have been working in the Israel/Palestine arena for nearly 20 years. I believe that you and yourbook are an answer to our prayers over many years. May God speed it and may it be dispersed and read widely across the English speaking world.

Until 2006 Richard Forer had been a loyal defender of Israeli policy and a member of AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), a powerful Washington D.C. lobbying group. A series of conversations with close friends persuaded him to begin an intensive study into the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Open to the possibility that a lifetime of beliefs might contain a few inaccuracies, he secretly hoped to obtain information to discredit scholars whose findings he considered anti-Semitic. With an uncompromising commitment to the truth, he went far beyond his original intention. Reaching into the depths of himself, in a remarkable moment he underwent a spontaneous spiritual transformation in which he awoke to his true identity. Forer discovered that in Truth we are all Muslim, Christian and Jewish, Palestinian and Israeli.

In his talk Richard will share how blind loyalty to Israel obstructed his ability to empathize with the suffering of Palestinians and induced him to support self-destructive policies that are doomed to perpetuate conflict and suffering on both sides.

Richard Forer has Ultra-Orthodox relatives living in Israel. His identical twin brother is a prominent member of an Ultra-Orthodox sect of Judaism. His younger brother is a former president of one of the largest synagogues on the East coast.